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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2015 19:24:45 GMT -5
I understand the internet issues! It sucks! I have no questions, but I wish I saw this yesterday, as I don't know how soon I can get to the store before Saturday. Layla:1lb 5oz Marty: 1lb10oz-he wouldn't stop moving. Today's diet: 6.5oz of chicken thigh, chicken neck, and an ounce of liver. Split it in half and put them in separate bowls, after a couple hours I put half of the upper bowl into the lower one and saved the neck, liver and a couple slices in the fridge so Layla could have the liver and maybe neck and Marty could have a little more if he wants it (I'm about to put it in). Some slices were cut in half, but most were about 3-4in long and 1 in wide, about a third of an inch in depth. There was one large-ish deformed chunk because it was too frozen to cut for whatever reason (the rest was either partially defrosted or cold and defrosted) Layla: She ate maybe an ounce before I went to sleep. She didn't want to chew on the neck, but I don't think she saw it until she was full. Her fur was SUPER soft late last night! Marty: He ate about 2 ounces before I went to sleep. He liked the neck, but had a problem with it sticking to his teeth so I had to help out. All in all: They ate all of it except for two ounces that I put in the fridge before my nap. I'll feed Layla the liver and neck, and then leave the slices in the bottom bowl if they're still hungry. My next update will be tomorrow!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2015 19:34:28 GMT -5
Well she's a fan of the neck now, she must not have been hungry enough to eat it earlier. Also: what kind of rings should I invest in? I did read through the mini-cyclopedia too!
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Post by gfountain on Jul 28, 2015 8:41:04 GMT -5
Aww..Layla's little face! So cute! And Marty even looks like my Leon.
Their slices/chunks are way bigger than I expected. I was thinking spaghetti noodle size, lol. So they're farther along than I thought they were. Good!
You said they had 6.5 oz of food. Was that for one meal or the entire day? And did they end up eating all of it? Neck bones are hard to eat. The shape of the bones makes it hard for them to chew. I always smash necks at least a little bit but even my best bone cruncher will leave the necks for last in hopes that I'll give him something different. I always worry about choking or getting bones stuck in teeth when I feed necks.
The old-fashioned pear shaped shower curtain hooks are what most of us use for hooking food. They're cheap and easy to use.
Homework assignment: Make a 'goal menu'. Decide which proteins you want in their diet and using the sample format in the mini-cyclopedia, write up a menu so we'll have something definite to work toward.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2015 14:41:56 GMT -5
She is quite adorable when she's not being a complete monster...
Yea, I couldn't cut them small enough to make them spaghetti noodles, but they didn't seem to mind.
That was the entire day, they ate some and went back to it later throughout. The necks only have meat, no bone, and the ferrets seem to really like it, so I added another one to their food today. They're still working on the first bit, I'm going to put the rest of what I prepared in their cage once they're done with the last of what I gave them earlier, then I'll add a journal entry.
I'll be on the lookout for the curtain hooks next time I'm at the store! I'll start rewriting my idea for a goal menu tomorrow. I can't keep my thoughts straight very well, I haven't slept much the past few days.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2015 6:20:34 GMT -5
Sorry for no update yesterday, I fell asleep suddenly. I think I have a cold, and my mind is a little too fuzzy to do the math for how much each ate and how they ate it, but I prepared 9oz of chicken and neck apparently and put like 3 oz in the fridge (I wrote down how much I made, but not how much I put in and when). I put the 3 oz in the cage for them to munch on, but they don't seem hungry yet (its like 2-3 hours before I normally put food in, so I'm not worried). I had a friend buy some pork, and apparently stuff was added to it to make it tender, so I can't use it D: So they'll be on just chicken for a few more days until I can get some pork chops or something. Maybe I can get my mom to give me some raw steak or hamburger next time she cooks it...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2015 7:50:29 GMT -5
I fed them an egg, since I didn't get anything ready for today's breakfast before I fell asleep, and I can't get anything ready for a couple more hours. They're slurping away and nibbling on the shell.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2015 18:35:38 GMT -5
Its really hot today, and I'm tired, so I'm updating early. I have a small cold and it isn't helping my energy levels in the slightest.
Today's diet: Late last night I gave them an ounce of leftovers from a few hours earlier, they still had some when I had them share a large egg early in the morning, and I gave them chicken thigh with neck and chopped up 1x1x1cm pieces of heart (the only way Marty will eat heart for some reason). I made the chicken slices a lot bigger because I put the chicken in the fridge too early to defrost, and I couldn't get the slices any smaller because I was clumsy. They still ate it, but I think I want to back off on the size anyway when I cut a partially frozen thigh. I had about 9 oz prepared, there is 7 in the fridge and 1 in the cage.
Layla: She ate half the egg, a piece of chicken, a 4th or so of a neck, and a piece of heart.
Marty: He ate the other half of the egg, a big piece of chicken, a bit of neck, and a couple pieces of heart. I decided to take the bandage off of his neck because I noticed a small mat of fur. The fur around the healed wound is still short, but if he doesn't scratch at it I think its safe to keep the bandage off! I kinda forgot how fluffy his neck fur is once it has time to fluff out!
All in all: They haven't eaten much, but that's probably because of the hot weather and the large egg I gave them this morning. They also got a bit of leftover chicken from yesterday before the egg. I have cooling blocks in their cage for them to lay against if they want, and I've been wetting them down occasionally. It isn't super hot, but I don't like my lack of AC today.
My next update will be tomorrow!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 13:14:48 GMT -5
They've finally eaten the last pieces from yesterday (I kept most of it in the fridge and gave them more pieces as they ate them, ended up only throwing away one piece because the ferrets wouldn't touch it and it was getting stiff). I cut up more chicken than I probably should have, and I'll weigh it before I put some pieces in the cage, then I'll put what will be enough to have them eat while I'm sleeping. I haven't slept more than a couple hours in one sitting for a few days, so I don't know when I'll end up unable to keep myself awake. I also don't know when I'll give the journal entry for today. My days are blending together in a bad way.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2015 5:51:55 GMT -5
So I fell asleep unexpectedly. I don't even remember what I was doing when I passed out.
Today's diet: They ate about 5 ounces of chicken thigh.
Layla: She's driving me completely nuts with trying to destroy everything. She digs at my mattress like she's trying to get to China, chews on every toy until I have to sew it daily... She's eating well and seems to want to only sleep under my blankets on my bed. If I put her in the cage she throws a tantrum until I let her curl up at the foot of my bed in one of my extra blankets. Sometimes she lets me cuddle her. She just had a coughing fit while biting my bed sheet and yanking on it... I think it was just a cat hair.
Marty: He's been drinking more than usual, and keeps dragging his blankets through his poop or has accidents in them... But I took off both bandages, because the wound on his chest needs to dry out, as it looks more like a sore than anything else. He's itchier though, so I may have to put at least the chest bandage back on. He just dry heaved while chewing on a piece of chicken, I'm hoping it was just because he swallowed too fast.
All in all: I'm obviously really irritable today, as their antics aren't anything unusual besides Layla's sleeping preferences... They're eating bigger slices with ease, but I don't want to increase the size until I can get them pork unless you think I should. Which was supposed to happen yesterday until I fell asleep. The past week really hasn't gone well for me, and the past two days have been horribly hot, and today is apparently going to be just as bad. I've been hosing down the roof and walls to try to draw the heat out, and it kinda helps.
I have questions: I can't get pork for a few more days unless I get lucky, and I was thinking I should keep the slices the same size until I get them to try pork. Should I increase the size of the chicken anyway? When I get pork should I get chicken with skin and bone as well, or should I wait?
My next update will be later today!
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Post by gfountain on Jul 31, 2015 11:36:11 GMT -5
I'm sorry I was absent again.. internet issues once more. (headwall) I'm also sorry you're not feeling well. Being tired and sick makes everything seem worse than it actually is, and ferrets will be ferrets whether you feel well or not.
You need to still be increasing the chunk size regardless of what protein you're feeding. Once you get your next meat, we may need to start with smaller pieces again but it will be easier to move them up if they already know how to eat chunks. They are also building jaw strength right now to be ready for bone crunching when it's time. Chicken with skin and bones is fine. Their first bone meals will need to have very small bones, so chicken wing tips, quail, Cornish Game Hen.. something like that.
Have you worked on a menu yet? Once you have a goal in place, it will be easier to see where we're going and what we need to do next.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2015 18:13:54 GMT -5
I need to check out prices next time I get to a store... chicken, pork, and beef are most available, but beef is very expensive, and it's going to be moreso because of how dry the summer has been. I'm hoping quail won't be too expensive, otherwise I'll have to go with beef anyway just for availability reasons.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2015 21:14:17 GMT -5
It was hot again today, but tomorrow's supposed to be partly cloudy... here's hoping I don't have to be mean to Layla to keep her cool (she hates getting wet). Sorry for not having much to say today.
Today's diet: Today they ate about 4 ounces, there's half an ounce left in the cage.
Layla: She ate an ounce and a half.
Marty: He ate the rest, and they'll probably split the rest up later.
All in all: I prepared tomorrow's food with liver and chicken thigh, I thickened the slices, cut them wider, and then cut them hamburger style to make them more like chunks rather than slices. I tried to make them around 2x2in.
My next update will be tomorrow!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2015 23:47:15 GMT -5
So the only pork I found had a solution mix for tenderness... is it ok to give to the ferrets? it has 1 gram of sugar for 3-ish pounds of meat, as well as some sodium. I'll also be starting a thread because if I can't give this to them then I need to find a different meat. I also bought 4 cornish hen halves.
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Post by gfountain on Aug 2, 2015 9:31:10 GMT -5
So together, they only ate 4 oz for the day? That's not very much, but heat does tend to make them eat less. Make sure they have food available all the time so they don't go hungry. They should be eating closer to 5-6 oz every day.
How are they doing with their chunks? No problems eating them? And how did the liver go over? It's not recommended to feed organs WITH another meat when multiple ferrets are eating from the same dish. If one doesn't like the organs, that one will grab all of the other meat and not eat his organs and the other one will ONLY get organs. To ensure that the balance remains correct, they need to have entire meals of the SAME THING.
Your pork shouldn't have any additives. I've found that most of the time, meat from the freezer section will have additives. Meat from the fresh meat section should be OK.
Let me know how they're doing with those chunks, then we'll decide where to go next. For now, freeze the CGH until we're ready to start bones.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2015 9:54:04 GMT -5
Yesterday I went to a friend's house with them (they had SO much fun!) and they ate about 6 ounces, I felt too sick though and had to come home earlier than planned. When I fed them the liver I hand fed the pieces to each of them to make sure they ate their share. They have food all the time except when they're sleeping and when its hot, and once they wake up I put their food back in, if they're uninterested and if its hot I leave it in and take it out for half hour to an hour intervals. This has been best for making sure they eat enough, they seem to prefer the chunks cold. They're eating chunks great, though they're spending more time eating each bit, as I would expect.
I was able to find a slightly more expensive pack of pork without additives, and gave the previous pork to my mom, who says she'll buy me a pork roast for the fuzzies in exchange (she often doesn't follow through, so I don't know for sure). When they eat the rest of what I have prepared (4 oz) I'll give them an ounce of heart each. I need to find a way to get frozen hearts, Marty's picky about eating freeze dried, and cutting them up into smaller pieces to make him think they're treats is a pain.
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